Office 2007: One Sweet Application

[okcpulse]

I recently received a copy of Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 2 from Microsoft just recently. I will spend the next two weeks using Office 2007 Beta 2 for multiple tasks to test its features.

However, the first few days using Word 2007, I was blown out of the chair. It is a complete remake of the entire office suite. The visual ribbons Microsoft dicussed during development exceeded what Microsoft promised in features.

The visual effects are also appealing, a reminder that we are in the 21st Century age of technology.

Some changes in Word 2007 are definitely noteworthy. First, the default font is no longer Times New Roman. It is now a new font in the sans-serif family, reflecting a trend that is moving away from serif fonts such as Times New Roman.

Another change is inserting pictures. You can use the ribbon to select the insert picture option, and once your picture is selected, you have more flexibility in where you would like to place your picture on the document. In previous versions of Word, aligning pictures used a snap-to-grid specification, so the jumpy alignment made designing your document more difficult. Well- not anymore. Another new feature is the frame feature for your document. Just double-click the photo on your document, and Word 2007 will pull up the frame ribbon, where you have the option of the mirror frame, 3D frame, white frame, shadow frame, black frame and slanted frame, which will make your document more professional as well as dynamic.

You can also insert a watermark easily via the ribbon. I will have more on Excel 2007 and Access 2007 in the coming weeks on www.okcpulse.com. Have a great weekend everyone!

[okcpulse]

Office 2007 is a huge departure from Windows applications. Huge. And I am impressed with what Word 2007 can do, and I haven't even touched Access 2007 or Excel 2007. Sorry, Open Office, you're an awesome free app, but Office 2007 puts you to shame. Here's why. I am using Word 2007 to put some professional flashy touches to my recently completed book about Oklahoma City. Even though you could edit pictures on the fly in Office 2003, 2007 includes a number of handy features for pictures, including a decent selection of framing effects for your photos.

Another feature that had me impressed in the new visual ribbon is the complete rework of each menu, where you can now find advanced features that sent you on a wild goose chase in Office 2003, such as document formatting and table formatting. Among some of the new features for formatting include inserting a watermark into the document on the fly, easier multiple column formatting for two or more columns of content, and my personal favorite, immediate previews of a newly selected font for your document. Every time you scroll over a different font or the size of that font, the new format will appear instantly and change each time you place your mouse over a new font.

There are, however, some setbacks since Office 2007 is still in Beta testing. It seems that as I continue working on my project, Word 2007 gradually slows down in performance. After an hour or so, the program begins to freeze, pushing yout CPU consumption to 100 percent for at least five minutes while the processes catch up. When you resize pictures, the performance of your computer slows down. Now, this does not happen if you are working on your document in 2003 compatibility mode. At least not yet. However, in compatibility mode, certain features are disabled. Convert your document to 2007, and all of your new features are ready to go. Autosave is more frequent, and should Office 2007 crash, a nifty window pane appears on the left hand side after reopening Word 2007 for document recovery, and you have several options from the most recent autosaves.

Overall, despite Microsoft's pricey license for Office 2007, a whopping $649, I'd definitely agree that Office 2007 is leaps and bounds ahead of any office software out there, rich in features, ready to make your user experience a 21st Century experience.

Click on the attachments below to see my screenshots of Word 2007 in action.